ADVISING ON HDPE PIPELINE REPAIR

Hands-on Repair to an Offshore Outfall Pipeline

Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal, Ireland

INTRODUCTION

The Corrib natural gas fields are of vital importance to Ireland. The project came online in 2015, and has the potential to meet up to 60% of the country’s natural gas requirements. The Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal – nine kilometres inland – processes gas from offshore wells, before flowing into the Bord Gáis Eireann national grid. A water outfall pipeline was constructed on site to discharge rainwater safely offshore. In 2016, pipelines inspections showed signs of leakage. IRM Systems provided services in order to evaluate repair strategies, fix the tears, and secure the pipeline’s integrity.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

The outfall pipeline was made of HDPE. Offshore pipeline repairs are rarely performed on HDPE pipelines. IRM Systems evaluated solutions in coordination with the client’s subject-matter experts, and presented detailed analysis of available technology on the market. Once the recommended solution was chosen, and the pipeline fixed, IRM Systems had to prove the integrity of this non-standard pipeline. New testing equipment was developed – an industry first. The project was completed within three months.

ADDED VALUE

For our line of work, there are not always off-the-shelf solutions. What we provide is the flexibility to assess all sorts of vendors of different technologies on the market that we could use. We evaluate each option, we ask vendors for pricing on behalf of the client, we look at the quality of their services, and finally come up with our selected proposal.